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Pastimes : THE SLIGHTLY MODERATED BOXING RING -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (1319)	3/5/2002 4:28:13 PM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21057

From a different, long dead, thread: Human beings have a natural urge to distinguish themselves from the other animals, assert their dignity, and improve their lot. If you want, it may arise from the common instinct of hierarchy found among many mammals, where there are competitions and "pecking orders". Combine this with the greater self- consciousness of human beings, and it becomes not merely a matter of position within the herd, but within the world. Competition among humans is partially ameliorated by human solidarity in extending dominion over the other animals, and the natural world generally. On this view, morality is a way of reinforcing the sense of human dignity, by seeking to regulate the passions common to all animals, and establishing respect between people. It is reasonable because humans seek honor when they are free of a preoccupation with merely surviving, and therefore, by extension, would want to emphasize their distance from other animals. Primitive cultures are the wrong place to look for clues to human morality, because civilized cultures are free to pursue other human aspirations, being freed from continual scrounging. We have to be especially attentive to what happens as soon as there is a surplus and relative security. Suddenly, there are temples to the gods, palaces for the higher nobility, stately mansions for the lesser nobility and haute bourgeoisie, gardens and public baths for the less wealthy citizens, cutlery and linen, expectations of cleanliness, commemorative statuary, elaborate systems of etiquette, and so forth.....